I used to be Britain's longest-running wrestling blogger. Then I got a proper job.

Monday, 17 September 2007

The Kingdom of Ultimate Power - Film Review

So what do you get when you cross a group of New York film makers with a mixed martial arts legend? The answer is simple - Bas Rutten hamming it up in “The Kingdom of Ultimate Power”.

Filmed by Pilot Light Pictures, the film follows the story of Arch, a young man who was once a gifted screen writer, and who seemed destined for big things in the film business, who suffers from a severe case of writer’s block, and spends most of the time drinking, working in a dead end job, and giving talks to old friends in the park about the current state of the movie business.

And that’s where he meets Vlad Rifka, the former ultimate fighting champion known as The Bringer of Death. Now retired, Vlad has dreams of becoming a film star, and what he thinks is a great idea for his first film, a science fiction film with religious overtures he calls The Kingdom of Ultimate Power. Vlad overhears Arch talking to his friends in the park, and puts forward his idea, asking Arch to write the script for him. When presented with such an awful premise for a film, any good writer worth their salt would turn down the offer flat. But Arch doesn’t, because it’s not his style. He has no plans to write the script though, and he finds Vlad highly amusing.

But the feelings of amusement soon change to feelings of anxiety as Vlad begins to make unannounced visits to Arch’s home, constantly asking him if he’s begun work on the project, and putting forward more crazy ideas of his own. Things begin to get crazier and crazier, until Vlad makes one final threat, and Arch forces himself to begin work on the script.

When I saw that this film lasted just thirty minutes, I was a little disappointed. But my disappointment didn’t last that long when I began watching. The Kingdom of Ultimate Power isn’t a big budget epic, it doesn’t need to be. It’s a short story with an outstanding performance from Rutten, who is delightfully over the top in his performance. Unlike other athletes who have tried to forge careers as actors, Rutten’s line delivery isn’t strained, in fact it’s extremely confident, and working as Pride’s main colour commentator all those years has certainly helped him in this respect.

In conclusion, The Kingdom of Ultimate Power is a great little film, well worth the watch if you’ve got thirty minutes or so to spare.

With thanks to Pilot Light Pictures for sending me a copy of this release. “The Kingdom of Ultimate Power” is available to watch in three parts on You Tube. To get direct links to the film, log onto the Pilot Light website at www.pilotlightpictures.com.